With the rampant scandals, corruption, ethical misconduct, dishonesty, and abuse of power engulfing the current administration, it is becoming a full time job just to keep up with the latest episode. What the country needs right now, more than ever before, is the one thing we don't have: strong, moral leadership that is capable of restoring American's faith in their government's values, ethics and ability to govern honestly and openly. Americans will continue to lose faith in their leaders and their government unless that leadership and government is forced to answer for their failures.
A sampling of the latest:
• Bush not only defends his buddy Tom DeLay, but has the gall to call him innocent--after months of declaring, in reference to the CIA Leak Investigation, that it would be inappropriate to comment on an ongoing investigation. Riggghhhht. In an interview with Fox News, Bush said he hopes DeLay will be cleared of charges so he can reclaim his powerful leadership position in Congress. "I hope that he will, 'cause I like him, and plus, when he's over there, we get our votes through the House," Bush told Fox News's Brit Hume.
Separately, in the Texas redistricting investigation, the Supreme Court said Monday it would consider the constitutionality of a Texas congressional map engineered by Rep. Tom DeLay that helped Republicans gain seats in Congress.
•A former business partner of lobbyist Jack Abramoff pleaded guilty in Miami yesterday to fraud and conspiracy and agreed to cooperate in a congressional influence-peddling investigation. "Adam Kidan's agreement to provide evidence against Abramoff makes him the second partner of the fallen lobbyist to agree to cooperate in the investigation, which also includes congressional aides and Rep. Robert W. Ney (R-Ohio)."
• Pentagon officials ordered a review of a program aimed at countering terrorist attacks that had compiled information about U.S. citizens, after reports that the database included information on peace protesters and others whose activities posed no threat and should not have been kept on file.
• Only after the Pentagon announced it would investigate, did Bush admit that in 2002 he secretly signed an order authorizing the National Security Agency to eavesdrop on U.S. citizens and foreign nationals in the United States --in spite of previous legal prohibitions against domestic spying. Under this presidential order, the intelligence agency has monitored the international telephone calls and international e-mail messages of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people inside the United States without warrants over the past three years.
• A congressional report made public yesterday concluded that President Bush and his inner circle had access to more intelligence than what was shared with Congress when it gave Bush the authority to wage war against Iraq. The 14-page report contradicts Bush's contention that Congress saw all the evidence before U.S. troops invaded in March 2003, stating that the president and a small number of advisers had "access to a far greater volume of intelligence and to more sensitive intelligence information." The report further concludes that the Bush administration has been more restrictive than its predecessors in sharing intelligence with Congress. Typically, The White House denies the charges--for now.
• Almost completely under the mainstream media radar, President George W. Bush’s administration is drawing up plans to carry out the biggest overhaul of the US foreign aid apparatus in more than 40 years in an attempt to assert more political control over international assistance, according to officials and aid experts.
According to Guy Dinmore of the Financial Times, "The proposed reorganisation could lead to a takeover by the State Department of the independent US Agency for International Development. USAID was established by President John F. Kennedy in 1961, managing aid programmes, disaster relief and post-war reconstruction totalling billions of dollars each year.
Critics in the aid community fear the reorganisation will lead to a politicisation of foreign assistance, where aid will become subordinated to the Bush administration's drive to promote democracy."
• Reaping the spoils of his unjust war, "effectively Bush has unilaterally declared Iraqi oil to be the unassailable province of US oil corporations." Bush made sure US Oil companies would go unchallenged when he signed executive order number 13303 in late May which states that "any attachment, judgment, decree, lien, execution, garnishment, or other judicial process is prohibited, and shall be deemed null and void", with respect to "all Iraqi petroleum and petroleum products, and interests therein." In essence, Bush granted Iraqi oil a lifetime exemption--provided US companies are involved in the oil's production, transport, or distribution. This order applies to Iraqi oil products that are "in the United States, hereafter come within the United States, or that are or hereafter come within the possession or control of United States persons." (Under US law, corporations are "persons.")
Shell, Chevron, BP and seven other oil giants, have won lucrative contracts. The main job of overseeing the repair work of Iraq's oil infrastructure was discreetly awarded to Halliburton, the company formerly run by Vice President Cheney, just after the invasion of Iraq was completed and is the favorite to win two other huge contracts. Working in Iraq has resulted in Halliburton making a profit of $26 million, in contrast to a loss of $498 million over the same time period a year earlier. 9 percent, or $324 million, of its second-quarter revenue of $3.6 billion came from its work in Iraq.
The reaction to all of this in the Arab world has been one of anger. Radwan Aziz, an Emirati citizen in Dubai, said: "Oil is what the US was after from all this." Hard to argue with the facts.
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